Thursday July 7th –
On Thursday we woke up early to go to my aunt and uncles house in Atlantida. When we arrived, my aunt Silvana was making homemade spaghetti for all of us.
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| Silvana's Pasta! |
We enjoyed the wonderful lunch together, but then she had to leave for Montevideo since her grandmother (90) was in the hospital. After lunch, my cousin Rodrigo (11) took us all on a tour of Atlantida. It was wonderful! After spending so many days in Montevideo, it is nice to enjoy a beautiful sunny day in Atlantida! After walking around the center, to the beach, and to “the Eagle” (picture below).
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| The Eagle |
Then we continued through the beach to the center and had ice cream.
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| The beach! |
Then we headed to la feria (the weekly outdoor market in Atlantida).
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| Add caption |
Here is where we met my uncle Rubito and shopped around for food. It was a blast! We all split up (Rubito, German, Rodri, Sarah, Maia, and I) and we raced to get our things done faster. When we got back to their house, we all watched the U-17 team as it beat Brazil and made it to the finals of the World cup. Again, the pride and happiness were refreshing. Family, soccer, friends, joy, and pride are not a bad combination. When we returned to Marianne’s that night, it was time to introduce Sarah to “El Cuento Chino” (a Chinese story, which is a movie). Though we had to translate a little bit, it was totally worth it! I think the humor shone through because we all had a blast laughing.
Friday July 8th-
In the morning, we all woke up relatively early, grabbed some breakfast, and left. Well, actually it wasn’t that easy to leave… Since I am apparently “key challenged,” we spent about 30 minutes trying to get the key out of the door… Priceless. We had set the alarm and I was terrified that it would go off at any point. When we finally succeeded, we headed to the supermarket to get our lunch, which would be eaten on the bus ride to Montevideo, since at 2 we had to be at Omi’s house. Our plan included a stop at Elena’s to drop off our stuff, however, since the bus took FOREVER, we went straight to Omi’s. Her apartment is spectacular! It faces the port and has a magnificent view! Omi, I repeat, was my grandmother’s best friend, who I will interview starting on Tuesday. With the breathtaking view of the sailing boats, we sat down to chat. Seeing Omi was like jumping back in time. She looks the same, sounds the same, and still knows absolutely everything there is to know about Maia and me. When I acted surprised about the amount of things she knew, she started telling me how she would talk on the phone with Oma every single night for about 2 hours. As she started telling us how hard it is, since she lost her husband and best friend with only 10 days in between, I started to tear up. Next thing I know, Omi is asking Sarah if she has a cold, and Sarah replies sniffling, “no, it’s just that when Martina gets upset, I can’t help it.”
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| With Omi! |
That had us all laughing, and after a couple of hours we headed to Elena’s to get ready for the Uruguay vs. Chile game. After cleaning up the mess we had made at Elena’s we headed down to “La Pasiva” again. The stress level had increased for everyone. I really thought Sarah was about to have a panic attack! Again.. we didn’t lose, but we didn’t win either… A tie was sufficient and the crowd seemed pleased, and I was just happy it was over, Sarah hadn’t passed out, Maia was happy, and the rest of the group had survived!
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| Maia was ready for the game! |
After the game we returned to the apartment to finish watching the documentary D.F. Also incredible! It is so well done! I am going to try to bring back a copy with subtitles because I know more than one professor that would love to have it! After the movie we all retired to bed in order to get some sleep before our Saturday adventure to Punta del Este!
Saturday July 9th
We woke up at 8 (too early for me, since we went to be at about 2) … At 9:25 we were in front of Alejandra’s apartment with breakfast (bizcochos!) Maia and I met Alejandra in the U.S. when she came with her sweet daughter, Matilde, for a year to teach Spanish at the university. Alejandra volunteered to take Sarah, Maia, and me to Punta del Este, a very famous destination in Uruguay during the summer. It has incredible beaches and when it’s pretty is plagued with tourists from all over the world. Though the morning was cloudy (the first one since Sarah had arrived), it cleared up. Before getting to Punta del Este we made a stop half-way at Piriapolis, also an incredible place !
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| View from "el cerro San Antonio" |
Here we stopped at the little puertito (port), saw two sea lions, and then went up the cerro (which to me is between a mountain and a hill… ). Here we had a coffee, enjoyed the view, and rested before we continued our drive to Punta del Este.
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| Puertito |
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| The whole gang! |
Our first stop in Punta del Este was “Punta Ballena,” (point of the whale, because it sort of looks like a whale). The view here is awesome and we also got to visit the museum inside “casa pueblo,” which is the house seen bellow (very famous).
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| Casa Pueblo |
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| View of Punta del Este from its own Puertito |
After this stop we headed to the center of Punta del Este and its own puertito. Here we ate outside by the beach and then headed to find more sea lions for Sarah. Though we did not find that many, we got to see the fishermen as they brought in the catch of the day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many fish. CRAZY!!!
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| View from where we ate |
After that we headed to the famous “mano,” (hand) which is located at the beach.
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| One of "la mano"s fingers! |
After taking some pictures with the hand we headed to the other side of Punta del Este through a very famous bridge that has a very unique design…
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| Didn't take this picture of the bridge, but wanted to give an idea |
Here we watched the sun set and enjoyed some ice cream before we headed back to Montevideo! We truly had an incredible time in a truly breathtaking place! I’m soooo glad that Sarah got to see it!
Sunday July 10th
With Maia’s last day approaching (Tuesday) things started to get hectic, because she had to see it all and visit with everyone. The day started off pretty early with breakfast at Yenny’s, a bookstore we have gone to several times that is on the beach. Here we met with my mom’s childhood friend, Begona. After getting breakfast we went to “la feria Tristan Narvaja.” This is a very famous outdoor Sunday market that has everything you can imagine. Since Sarah was with us, we started with the animals.. Puppies, cats, turtles, birds, turkeys, snakes, lizards, bunnies, EVERYTHING AND MORE.. Then there is food, books, antiques to last 50 lifetimes, clothes, music, movies, EVERYTHING!!! It covers more blocks than I could counts and it includes many many antique shops that are open with millions of things. Sarah was in love. I can’t count how many things she told me that she collected, but we came to the conclusion that when she returns, she will make this a regular visiting spot.
After this we walked down “18 de Julio,” a very famous street. We visited important monuments and then visited my aunt Elena, who was working hard at the hospital. After chatting with her and getting to see the place where she works every Sunday, we headed back to Pocitos to Emiliano’s house in order to have lunch with the cousins before Maia left. We had a lovely time chatting with everyone, and after lunch, Sarah, Maia, Cata, Emiliano, and I headed to a museum to see the works of some Uruguayan artists. We loved them all! After that we hung around for a little bit, and then my aunt Alexandra took us to Zoraida’s house. She was also one of my mom’s childhood friends. Here, the three of us and her 4 children watched the finals for the U-17 world cup (Uruguay vs Mexico .. IN MEXICO)…. Though they played well… it wasn’t quite enough, and we lost. We had a blast though! We visited with the 6 of them and left around midnight. Once at Elena’s, Sarah had to pack her suitcases because her plane left Monday! After finishing everything we finally went to bed.
Monday July 11th
At around 9, I was abruptly awakened by Sarita saying, “um… I just woke up, I wasn’t paying much attention, Elena was speaking in Spanish, but I think she said my flight is cancelled.” I promise I thought I was dreaming….. But I wasn’t. I woke up to find the wonderful breakfast that Elena had bought for Sarah’s “last breakfast” here and Elena on the phone on hold with American trying to see what we could do. Due to the ashes from the volcano, the flight from Miami had not come in and the one that night had been cancelled. At that moment my instinct kicked in and I got on skype and called American in the U.S… In 30 minutes we had Sarah booked on the Thursday flight, since the one on Tuesday was already overbooked… After calming down, we proceeded to make improve itineraries for the next days!
At around 2, we headed to “el centro” to buy some things for my dad and walk around, since it was a wonderful day! We went to the artisan’s market, which blew us away, and then took a bus to meet my aunt for coffee. After eating some ice cream with Marianne, we proceeded to Lucia and Nacho’s apartment for Maia’s farewell dinner. We had a blast!!! The funniest part of the night, I think, was when Elena starts telling Maia how she no longer likes Cavani(soccer player who we’ve been obsessing over all this time) because she’s found some things that surprised her. Little does she know that Maia had just bought her his book as a thank you present… At that point Maia goes to Lu’s room, gets the book and brings it out. We all laughed for about 30 minutes!!! It was priceless and Elena loved it! After enjoying the company of some of the people I love the most, eating some yummy food, and watching a soccer game we headed back to Elena’s at around midnight.
Tuesday July 12th
Maia’s last day. The day of the big game…. Would the plane leave? Would Uruguay beat Mexico and move on to the next round of Copa America…. It would all be decided before midnight…. NERVES!!!
The day started with Maia enjoying the last bits of Elena! Then she headed to the hair salon to get her hair cut, styled, manicure, etc. She came back about 3 hours later, we ate, and started closing the suitcases. At around 4:30 Elena returned and we enjoyed our last hours before Maia left. At 6:00 the four of us took a taxi to the airport. When we arrived, Elena helped Maia to do the check in and we sat down to eat the yummy pastries that Marianne, who met us there, had brought. At around 7:45, we said our goodbyes and Maia left us. There were many repressed tears as she walked in through security. At that point Elena, Sarah, Marianne, and I sat down and got a coffee. The plan was to stay until we were sure that she had left. Since Maia is still underage, we were scared they would ask for a parental permission form, which she didn’t have. Therefore, we sent her with a cell phone (which Courtney will bring back when she comes) and after everything was ok she let us know. At some point Marianne left and the three of us waited… At around 9:30, when her flight was supposed to leave at 9:00, the status was still “closed.” The three of us were still there waiting very frustrated since the big game started at 9:45. After asking and getting no answers, the American Airlines website updated that it had taken off. We informed the airport of their mistake on the sign and left… On the bus, we were too nervous to turn on the radio… We waited and then received a call from Marianne that we had scored!!!! AAAAHHH! And, once again, it was Maia’s least favorite player! Toooo funny! She was so upset that she couldn't watch the game, but at least the pilot announced, when they landed, that Uruguay had won!
Once at home we ordered some food, finished watching the game, and celebrated the win!
Wednesday July 13th
Supposedly Sarah’s last full day in Montevideo. The day started earlyish… We headed to another feria (market) first! After buying what we were searching for, we headed back to Laura’s house (this is the family that has hosted many students from the University) for lunch. It was a blast! There were 3 of their exchange students and we all got to chat! They are a great family and I can definitely see why everyone loves it! After being there for hours, Sarah and I headed to the Blanes Museum in the zone called “el Prado.” It was a gorgeous place! It is located in a beautiful garden and behind it there is a very peaceful Japanese garden! The exhibits were great. Sarah was very interested in one called “double thinking,” which depicted propaganda from the dictatorship. VERY interesting! The painted were breathtaking, and I now know that this will be a must for the other two that are coming! After the museum we headed back to Elena’s, where we had dinner and watched a movie (Mundialito) together. It also had to do with the dictatorship, but it was focused on a soccer tournament done here during that time between the teams that had won the world cup up to that point. Also VERY interesting!
Thursday July 14th
Sarah’s last day! We started the day a little earlier than usual because we wanted to surprise Elena with a pancake breakfast, and we succeeded!
After that, Sarah hung around spending her last minutes with Elena, packing, having lunch with Marianne, and resting for her big trip. At 5:40, Sarah and I headed to the airport, where she checked in, we ate some, we waited, and then just like that… she left. Poor thing fought back the tears, but as she told me it only lasted until she couldn’t see me anymore, because then… she had to run off to hide in the bathroom because she was crying so much… Oh poor Sarita!
After dropping her off, I headed back to Elena’s… I was exhausted and the back part of the apartment was soooo quiet. It was truly sad. That’s when I realized it was work time! After enjoying dinner with Elena, I headed to bed and didn’t get up until 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday
Friday July 15th
Shortest day every! I woke up and it was already night! It was the first rainy day since Sarah had arrived in Montevideo. I woke up so late and it was soo gross outside that it was already night time!!! I used this rainy day to read my notes from the letters and submerge myself once again in the research. At night, Elena and I watched a movie and a tv show, and then we headed to bed!
Saturday July 16th
TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! I finally caught up!!!! Ok, so today has been mostly spent reading letters and writing this NOVEL, in order to catch up. I am starting to write today! I shall start with the beginning… Family, life in Berlin, etc…. Starting tomorrow, the updates will make more sense, be more detailed, and NEVER again this long!!! Now, I'm off to start writing!!!
| Did not take it, but wanted to provide a visual image! |
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